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Photos by Erin English

The Best Car-Camping Gear for Wheelchair Users

Published August 31, 2017

Your guide

Erin English

Planning a car-camping adventure can be daunting for anyone, but perhaps more so for a wheelchair user. The prospect of deviating from a reliable home routine for cooking, sleeping, and bathing can evoke a laundry list of concerns, but the rewards of camping are many: sojourning with nature, spending time with friends and family, and enjoying a certain chocolaty-marshmallowy confection, to name a few. Lots of gear exists to help wheelchair users minimize common car-camping challenges, such as navigating uneven terrain or pitching a shelter, and get straight to enjoying time in the great outdoors.

It is somewhat surprising that with approximately 8.7 million Americans using a mobility device such as a wheelchair, walker, or cane in their daily lives, no single online store or brick-and-mortar outlet serves as a hub for adaptive outdoor recreation equipment. Sportaid comes close, but is by no means comprehensive. That said, you can find a number of products at traditional outdoor shops and medical-supply companies that enhance a wheelchair user’s camping experience and facilitate independence.

For the sake of clarity, “wheelchair user” is used in this guide to encompass a diverse population, including: people with paraplegia or quadriplegia; people with neuromuscular disorders or congenital disorders; and amputees. Recognizing that each of these groups has its own unique set of needs, this guide focuses on general, customizable tips for a successful overnight jaunt. Whether you’re new to camping or just getting back into the activity after an injury or medical diagnosis, consider this a starting point for assembling your car-camping quiver. And a special note: We’d love—even more than usual—to hear your thoughts on this guide. Is it useful? Did we get anything especially wrong or right? What else would you like to see when it comes to adaptive outdoor products? Leave us a comment in the discussion section below (or if you’d prefer, we’ll happily take any feedback or tweets as well).

The Research

Why you should trust us

I previously served as the marketing and communications director for the Adaptive Sports Center in Crested Butte, Colorado, and spent several winters volunteering for the Eldora Special Recreation Program (now Ignite Adaptive Sports) at Eldora Mountain Resort in Nederland, Colorado. Through these experiences, I became educated in the benefits of outdoor recreation for people with disabilities. I’m an avid car camper and recently slept for many nights in a tent while writing Moon Rocky Mountain National Park.

For this guide, I interviewed multiple adaptive athletes and chatted with members of a private Facebook group for active individuals with paraplegia and quadriplegia. David Poole of Bozeman, Montana, graciously camped a night with me in southwest Montana’s Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest to demonstrate the ins and outs of his camping gear. Finally, to ensure I am accurately informing my intended audience, I enlisted Jake O’Connor of Reactive Adaptations to review this guide before it was published.

Getting around

Our pick

You don’t need to purchase an expensive all-terrain wheelchair when you have a FreeWheel; the device clamps onto manual wheelchairs, allowing users to confidently negotiate dirt, grass, rocks, and other uneven terrain commonly found around campsites.

At an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)–accessible national park campsite or a KOA, you might not have difficulty navigating around your tent and campground trails with standard wheelchair wheels and tires. But venture to a primitive campsite on US Forest Service land, and uneven terrain is probable. The FreeWheel wheelchair attachment from Epical Solutions is a popular and affordable option for navigating rough terrain. Attaching this extra wheel to the front of your manual wheelchair for the first time takes just minutes, and 10 seconds or less for all future use. The well-loved FreeWheel considerably improves a wheelchair user’s ability to trek over rocks, dirt, sand, and snow, therefore increasing options for frontcountry and backcountry exploration.

Another mode of transport is the lever-operated Grit Freedom Chair. This chair significantly improves a person’s ability to get through bumps and potholes, but comes with a hefty price tag. The chair might be a worthwhile investment for weekend warriors, but overkill for a once- or twice-a-year adventurer.

Having rugged mountain-bike tires on hand for your wheelchair can increase its versatility. Some people use mountain-bike tires all day, every day on their chair. Several wheelchair-specific brands of rugged tires are available, but you can also go with bike tires sold at your neighborhood bike shop. Wheelchair wheel sizes can be different than bike wheel sizes, so just make sure that you’re buying a tire that actually fits your wheel. Your best bet may be to stop by your local bike shop or medical-supply store for a fitting if you’re unsure. Some wheelchair users have upgraded their wheels to accept a wider variety of standard mountain-bike tires. If you do decide to go this route, you should check in with your wheelchair manufacturer and make sure that the switch is safe.

When purchasing a tent, wheelchair users should carefully consider the tent’s entryway. On a camping trip, you might prefer to wheel your chair all the way through the tent’s door, or you might be fine with parking your wheelchair outside and transferring inside. Some people find that being half in and half out of a tent works best for transfers. Family tents, such as the Eureka Copper Canyon 6—which earned the distinction of The Wirecutter’s best tent for family and car camping—typically have generously sized doors.

The large entry doors on glamping (glamorous camping) tents—like the CRUA Outdoors Crua Tri—allow you to move in and out with ease, but the steep price of luxury tents can be a deterrent for the casual, every-so-often camper. Both glamping and family-style tents have the benefit of being able to accommodate a single or double cot. For many wheelchair users, transferring from a wheelchair to a cot is easier than transferring directly to the ground. Large tents are also convenient when inclement weather strikes. (Game of Go Fish, anyone?)

On the downside, large tents can be cumbersome. Additionally, securing tent poles and the rain fly over a tall or wide tent can usually be accomplished only with assistance from an able-bodied friend. Most tent walls usually have a swath of nylon at the bottom of the door that must be cleared by doing a small “wheelie.”

Smaller one- or two-person tents have some distinct advantages over larger tents: They are lighter to transport, and setup is easier. A wheelchair user can often independently assemble a smaller tent with little to no assistance. However, transferring to a tent with less door clearance can prove more challenging than doing so with a family tent.

Pull Quote

Family tents often feature a good-size vestibule that can be used to store a chair overnight.

Though purchasing a floorless tent is a gamble in terms of weather, single-pole tents like the Black Diamond Mega Light are an attractive option. Without a jumble of poles to deal with, setup is simplified, and the hassle of rolling over fabric and zippers to get inside is eliminated.

At some ADA-accessible campsites, you will find raised “platform” tent pads, which greatly expedite transferring. They allow a wheelchair user to transfer straight across from their chair to the tent opening, rather than from their chair down to the ground. Generally, you can expect to set up on a flat, ground-level tent pad, or, in more primitive campsites, a dirt area with variable terrain. A small step stool, a portable shower chair, or a yoga mat all can help with transferring from a chair to a sleeping bag in a tent (and vice versa). You can also set up your tent next to a picnic table and use the bench seat for support while transferring.

After transferring, you’ll want to keep your wheelchair protected from the elements. Family tents often feature a good-size vestibule that can be used to store a chair overnight. You might also opt to bring your chair all the way in if the tent isn’t already full of family, friends, and gear.

Some smaller tents have a vestibule that just covers a small-profile chair. MSR sells a Hubba Gear Shed add-on for its Hubba and Hubba Hubba backpacking tents that is ideal for stowing a chair. If your vestibule isn’t roomy enough, you can protect your chair instead with a waterproof patio-chair cover with elastic on the bottom, or put your chair’s seat cushion inside the tent and stow your chair outside, upside down.

Regardless of what size tent you purchase, securing the corners taut is necessary, and from wheelchair height, getting stakes deep into the ground can be tricky. As part of your car-camping arsenal, bring a hammer to make this step easier.

For tents that don’t come with their own footprint, plan on purchasing a ground tarp. A basic blue, all-purpose tarp from the hardware store will do the trick.

Sleeping hammocks serve as an alternative to traditional tents, and are also a great place to chill with a good book mid-afternoon. Hennessy Hammock makes a lightweight bottom-entry hammock that packs small—the Explorer Ultralight Asym Classic. After getting the hang of the setup, assembling the hammock can take 15 minutes or less. You will also likely want to bring in an insulation system. I recommend giving the whole process a dry run at home in your backyard or at a park before camping (that advice applies for tents, too). Depending on the person, transferring from a wheelchair into a bottom-entry hammock might prove less difficult than a ground transfer into a tent.

For hammock camping to be a success, you’ll need adequately spaced, small-trunk trees at your campsite and the ability to negotiate the terrain around those trees. Unless you are camping close to home and can scout out your campsite in advance, we advise bringing a tent in your vehicle as a backup plan. If rain is in the forecast, you might also need assistance from an able-bodied friend to set up a hammock rain fly at an appropriate height.

When choosing a sleeping bag, find one that is comfortable and has a temperature rating that is suited for the type of camping you intend to do: summer, winter, or three-season. If you are a single-leg or double-leg amputee, you might find that the extra space at the bottom of your sleeping bag increases your chill factor at night. Consider working with a tailor to remove some of the lower half of your bag to stay warmer.

Everyone should have a sleeping pad underneath their bag for comfort and warmth. Sleeping pads also promote good skin health and can help prevent pressure sores from developing.

Jack’s Plastic Welding Paco Pads, made of dense foam, form an excellent cushion for hips and limbs. The pads also self-inflate. On the downside, Paco Pads don’t pack down to a small bundle like some other brands of mattresses. Exped’s MegaMat 10 Sleeping Pad is also dense and insulated. For campers who are intent on going light, the Big Agnes Insulated Air Core Ultra is compact and lightweight, and a comfy 3.25 inches thick when fully inflated. Many people find success with layering thick and thin pads; take the time to test various combinations until you find a winner.

During the daytime, a comfortable sleeping pad works double duty as an exercise mat for people who have muscle spasticity and need to stretch.

Some individuals opt to ditch the sleeping bag/sleeping pad combo altogether, instead bringing along an air bed or plush mattress topper. Though these options might offer sufficient cushioning and support, they are bulky to transport.

If your jaunt in the woods lasts just a few nights, a dip in a nearby stream can suffice for washing away the “mountain pepper.” Otherwise, consider baby wipes as an inexpensive bath alternative. Heck, they’re great to have around anyway for uses like mopping up spills and getting wood sap off your hands. (Just remember to pack them out, because they’re not a terribly environmentally friendly product.)

The Nemo Helio Pressure Shower is another option for washing up, though this shower comes with a much higher price than basic solar showers. The reservoir sits on the ground and showers you with pressurized water created via a foot pump. You can squeeze the pump with your hands pre-shower to build pressure. Washing with the flexible hose and sprayer is comfortably done from a camp chair, and also makes the Helio an easy solution for handwashing or camp kitchen cleanup.

Alternatively, you can fill a Coleman 5-gallon solar shower with water, warm it in the sun, hook it onto a ski pole or trekking pole, and then prop it up against a tree or car bumper. When it’s time to get doused, you may want to transfer from your wheelchair to a nylon camp chair or stool. And of course, wear a swimsuit if you have concerns about gawking passersby. If you’re lucky, your campground might offer a solar shower stall for additional privacy.

If packing light isn’t a concern and you’re unsure about accessible stalls in your campground’s shower room, pop a portable shower chair in your vehicle. The NuProdx Inc. MultiChair 3000 collapses to fit in a carrying case, and it also functions as a raised toilet seat.

Many people with disabilities adhere to a personalized bladder and bowel program and will need to modify their programs while staying in the woods. Ideally, your campsite will offer a wheelchair-accessible bathroom, but if such an option doesn’t exist, a folding bedside commode or camping “groover” housed within a floorless, nylon privacy tent can work instead. The Reliance Luggable Loo or Reliance Hassock set up with a FoldEasy Toilet Frame—are great options. Instead of a privacy tent, you could also bring a Luggable Loo or similar portable toilet directly into your tent when nature calls, and otherwise store it in a vehicle.

You’ll likely want to bring a pee bottle—labeled “pee bottle” to avoid confusion with your yellow sports drink—and other toileting equipment, such as catheters, into your tent at bedtime to avoid the hassle of transferring to your chair in the middle of the night.

Necessary extras

Safety

Our pick

Carrying a flashlight and conducting camp chores in a wheelchair is a juggling act easily avoided. When night falls, a headlamp is super-helpful for getting around in the dark and is good to stow in your tent at bedtime for toilet needs. We recommend the Black Diamond Spot. Its bright beam can shine at up to 300 lumens and it has multiple light settings. It also has one of the longest battery lives of any headlamp we’ve tested, but you should still pack extra batteries as a safeguard.

People with paraplegia and quadriplegia need to be particularly diligent about wound care, so packing a well-stocked first-aid kit for adventures is key.

For areas with little to no cell phone reception, and/or if you are camping solo, carrying a Spot Satellite Messenger device provides reassurance that EMS can be summoned in case of a problem. In areas frequented by bears, have a can of bear spray within reach during the daytime, and stashed in a tent pocket at night.

If you’re a power-wheelchair user, start your camping trip with a fully charged battery and have a portable battery charger (available from wheelchair-supply stores) stowed in your vehicle.

Comfort Company’s AllRounder cushions and protects.

Our pick

For tasks better performed on the ground, Comfort Company’s AllRounder provides soft but sturdy padding between you and the dirt, and offers skin protection for those who are at risk of developing pressure sores. Leg and waist straps keep the cushion securely attached, whether you are cooking, setting up gear, or filtering water from a stream. The AllRounder can also be used for adventures beyond your campsite, including boating and horseback riding.

Staying warm

Having extra clothes and layers on hand is essential. Even if the weather report promises sunshine, expect the unexpected and pack some waterproof pants and a wheelchair rain poncho. This is especially important for camping trips in the mountains, where bluebird skies can give way to wind and hail without much warning. People with paraplegia or quadriplegia need to be particularly diligent about keeping areas below their injury site warm, as blood circulation is often poor. Lightweight, insulated Black Diamond Stance Belay Pants paired with down booties will keep you wonderfully toasty.

A good pair of sturdy gloves makes life easier when the temperature drops. Unless aesthetics are important to you, you don’t particularly need to purchase wheelchair-specific gloves from a medical-supply store. An inexpensive pair of Kinco work gloves—found at most hardware stores—will suffice for warmth.

Even if your sleeping bag has a comfortable hood, bringing a pillow from home will help you get a more restful night of sleep. People with spinal-cord injuries are often sensitive around the neck, and snuggling with a wadded-up fleece jacket just doesn’t cut it.

Other wheelchair accessories

For people who don’t sweat and need to be diligent about regulating body temperature, a portable cooling device can be helpful. Misty Mate’s Misty 16 Classic can be strapped under your seat and used as needed while hanging out at the campsite or exploring nearby trails.

Camp chores are part of the camping experience. For lugging gear to and from your vehicle, dumping gray water or gathering firewood, consider purchasing an Advantage Wallaby Wheelchair Down Under Catchall Bag in lieu of precariously transporting items on your lap. If you’ve taken the plunge and purchased a FreeWheel, the FreeWheel Carry-All Rack allows for easy transport of items on top of the wheelchair attachment.

Medical-dressing sticks, found at medical-supply stores, can also be used to transport stuff sacks and gear bags from your vehicle to your campsite.

Kitchen

Often, the most convenient way to make dinner is over a fire pit on the grill. Many people, however, do just fine with a compact backpacking stove set up on level ground, or a larger camp stove placed on a low table. A truck tailgate can work great for food prep and no-frills dining. Bringing along several portable camping tables will open up your options for cooking and food preparation (be sure to read our camping food guide for some campground culinary inspiration).

Even if your campsite has a potable water pump, always plan to have extra water on hand. You might arrive at a campsite only to find that the water has been shut off for the season or is otherwise unavailable. Naturally, 1-gallon jugs will be easier to carry and pour than a 5-gallon jug. If you do opt to bring a 5-gallon jug, choose one with a spigot or push-button spout rather than a pour spout.

This is one of the best articles I have come across. Keep up the good work.Best Car Batteriez

Tricia Rosetty

Are there any tents available without a couple inches of threshold at the door? I want my partner (T-12 incomplete SCI, manual wheelchair) to be able to come in and out of the tent as he likes without worrying about damaging the tent.

Dan Koeppel

Not sure if there are any totally threshold-free tents, but the Eureka has a very minimal gap between the door and the exterior. We’ve seen some folks use gaffers or painters tape (easy to remove) or even a doormat as a protective reinforcement.